MPs warned of consequences of failure to pass anti-money laundering legislation

In an unofficial meeting with the committee’s chair, MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, and MPs Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakur and Mohamed Thoriq, APG Co-chair Andrew Colvin warned that the organisation along with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “would be left with little option but to take certain measures that would be negative for the Maldives” should the legislation not be passed.

APG Executive Secretary Dr Gordon Hook noted that implementing laws on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) was “an obligation that the Maldives undertook voluntarily when you joined the APG in 2008” as a condition of membership.

“There are 41 countries in the APG. They include every country in the Asia/Pacific region with the exception of North Korea and three tiny Pacific states. Among those 41 countries of which Maldives is a member, you are the only country without a comprehensive AML/CFT framework,” he observed.